All posts tagged pedicabs

Tourists ride in a New York City pedicab through Central Park in October.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday signed into law a bill that will crack down on the murky pricing practices in New York City’s pedicab industry, ending the mini-drama that began the day before when he delayed the signing after listening to complaints from a single opponent.

“After further review, he signed the bill to increase protections for New Yorkers and visitors who choose to ride in pedicabs and create a reasonable fare system,” Evelyn Erskine, a mayoral spokeswoman, said.

On Wednesday at a bill signing ceremony at City Hall, at which the mayor was expected to sign the legislation, one pedicab driver told the mayor he thought the bill was unfair and urged him to veto it. Two other members of the pedicab industry spoke out in favor of the bill, but the mayor said he needed more information and wanted to “think about it a little bit.” Read More »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg waited until the last moment Wednesday to delay signing a bill aimed at cracking down on murky pricing practices in New York City’s pedicab industry.

A single opponent raised criticism of the legislation with the mayor, who decided to withhold his signature so he could seek more information. “I’m not going to sign the law today — I want to think about it a little bit,” Bloomberg said at a City Hall bill-signing ceremony on Wednesday.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Council Member Dan Garodnick of Manhattan, and two members of the pedicab industry spoke in favor of the legislation during the ceremony, but one pedicab driver in attendance urged a mayoral veto. Read More »

A judge’s ruling issued Monday may create a roadblock for the city’s pedicab industry by preventing the vehicles to cross city bridges on bike paths, regardless of whether the pedicabs are carrying passengers or not.

Because pedicabs are already prohibited from using traffic lanes on city bridges, the ruling could force operators to load pedicabs onto trucks whenever they need to move between boroughs.

The pedicab case is only the latest of many suits seeking to determine who has the right to access city streets and sidewalks as the Bloomberg administration seeks to redesign major thoroughfares and encourage bicycle use.

One Saturday in May, a city attorney riding his bicycle saw Duncan Elder riding a pedicab across the Manhattan Bridge bike path with a person in the back seat, according to court documents. The attorney snapped a photo with his cellphone. The attorney sent the photo to a Department of Consumer Affairs inspector who wrote a ticket nearly two weeks later, citing laws that prohibit the operation of pedicabs on bike paths.